Dear Members, Friends, Siblings, All,

As you will remember, our guest preacher on Sunday will be Rev. Dr. Luther E. Smith, husband of our own Rev. Helen Pearson Smith, gentle and loving spirit, distinguished theologian and educator, and dear friend. Dr. Smith’s latest book is Hope is Here: Spiritual Practices for Pursuing Justice and Beloved Community (Westminster John Knox, 2023). After worship, he will join us for a Community Conversation in the Fireplace Room. The book will be available for purchase.

I trust you are making plans to be with us on Sunday and to stay for our time with Dr. Smith. This is an opportunity I very much look forward to and you don’t want to miss.

In The Monthly magazine that was issued earlier this week, you read about the “Summer of Exploration: A Journey Inward Together” that begins in June. With journeying inward fresh in my mind, I happened upon the following excerpt in Hope is Here and wanted to share it with you here. Under the subheading “Questions for the Quest,” Luther writes:

“Journey” is frequently used to describe how one is living the spiritual life. It evokes images of movement, seeking, engaging new realities and new meanings, the risk. The journey is a quest. A quest inspired by hope. A quest to feed the spirit’s hunger for fulfillment. A quest, whether or not we are aware of it, to give ourselves to God’s dream of beloved community.

 A journey’s realities and our feelings about those realities are known and not known. Reliable maps? Maybe. Trustworthy testimony from previous travelers? Maybe. Support from others? Maybe. A strong desire to have a successful journey? Yes. Certainty that it will match our desire? No. Will I be safe? Maybe. Will I be the same at journey’s end. No. Is there an end to the journey? Begin and see.

 The questions evoke more questions. Even answers evoke more questions. Questions are not our nemesis. Certainty may be our downfall, but not questions. With questions we quest with a searching heart and humility that are crucial to being alive to wisdom and confusion. The work of hope is accomplished with our embrace of the questions that inform and form us.

We will look to see you on Sunday for worship or Streamers, you can look for us. It will be a great day to be together around the Table of Communion (Streamers, have your elements ready) and to visit with Dr. Luther Smith for questions and conversation. We’ll do our best to stream that, too.

Love and hugs,

Rev. Liz

PS Please don’t forget the 700 cans of black beans for the Toco Hills Community Alliance until June 15^th. THCA reminds us that “Hunger doesn’t take a vacation.” We can help keep the shelves full.